My fan-turned-friend, Katie, came to Las Vegas to compete in a big Tae Kwon Do tournament at the end of January. Congratulations for getting second place, my friend! Then she came and helped me teach my BJJ kids class, and then we took her to BJJ class the next day, and made her stay for MMA practice. She hung with the MMA fighters! Well done! 😀
We also watched My Hero Academia together.

So after training on Thursday Fed 1st, I took a night flight to New Jersey to visit family. I didn’t know that Spirit Airline seats wouldn’t recline, so I didn’t get ANY SLEEP. I had been counting on a few hours!! Dang it!

I used to try and the complete rounds during Christmas time, but a week and a half is a long time to be away from home for me, so I started breaking it up into two trips. This time, I saw my aunt, my dad’s sister, and my cousins, who are around my age.
My cousin’s kids, who are almost 3 and 4 respectively, have grown so much and are talking! We had a lot of fun just hanging out, and also went to the Liberty Science Center on Saturday. My Aunt Connie cooked us super delicious Italian food that I’ve missed so much. Thank you for making the effort, and for bringing everybody together! I loved it so much. It was so fulfilling.

On Sunday morning, I drove an hour north to NY, and my mom drove two hours south, and we met near where my other aunt, her sister, lives. My mom had been saying she might not come because of snowy winter weather, but I’m thrilled it wasn’t bad, so she came. YAY I’m so happy! 🙂 We had lunch and then walked around a flea market, where she bought some DVDs and I enjoyed perusing. We met up with my aunt and uncle and ate dinner, chatted, and watched half of the Superbowl. It was really nice! <3

Then Monday morning, I woke up in my hotel in Fishkill at 2 AM, drove an hour and a half to the Newark Airport, and almost experienced my worst nightmare A SECOND TIME getting lost trying to find the Enterprise Rental Car return. omfg I hate that airport. It’s under construction with no clear signs how to get to the car returns. A few years ago I spent an hour driving in circles, getting on and off the high way with nobody to ask since it was like 5 AM, and ended up parking in a Hertz lot, mailing my keys back. This time I FINALLY found it. So THIS TIME it took me only like two wrong turns and a few minutes of panic and then deep breathing to find it. ;_;

I departed at 6:30 AM and arrived in Vegas at 9:00 AM, in time to drive to Syndicate and do mitts with John, and MMA class. Yay. But I was so slow. x_x I still got good practice in!

I’ve been rolling no gi on Wednesdays between my wrestling privates and physical training. I’ve been rolling with kids Coach Rick every Wednesday after our kids class and learning stuff with him. I’m improving my striking with John, as usual, and he knows just what I need to get better at wrestling. I’ve managed to do two days a week of physical training with Lorenzo without breaking my body too much! In fact, I feel strength increases! 😀 That’s really exciting.
Great group of strong and skilled women in class!
I’ve started utilizing the UFC Performance Institute for the weight training room and the ice bath/ hot tub. It’s great for recovery!
Alexa Conners is back and doing her training camp at Syndicate. I’ve been enjoying training with her a lot! She has a fight against Carina Damm March 10th in North Dakota, in BeatDown 21.